Below me spread out the entire ground of the city, with tall sprawling buildings and roads winding between them. I could see a couple of police cars down there, surrounding one particular building. Policemen fanned out around it with their weapons ready. I focused on that place to keep my fear of heights from kicking in. Then I recognised the building. It was the school.

A loud “What?” from below distracted me. I looked down to see a dwarf’s head poking out of the car window and gawping at me. He must have been a young guy, fresh out of college and barely twenty. “Get off my car!” he yelled.

I regretted looking down. It reminded me that I was still high above safe ground, and any slip would again mean certain death. I needed to stop gambling with my life. “I can’t jump off right now!” I shrieked back indignantly.

He frowned back at me. “Then stop jumping on people’s cars!”

I could see the ground approaching me. Thirty seconds till we reached the curve. Twenty. Ten. “Won’t happen again!” I shouted to the guy and jumped off the top of the car to the floor just as it reached the lowest point of its curve and went up again. I braced myself for the impact by pulling in my knees and rolled onto the cement floor. Pain racked through my body as I made impact, every bone and muscle screaming in protest to what I was doing. But my crazy legs had a mind of their own. As soon as I regained balance, they led me away from the wall, right into the heart of the city. Straight towards the building surrounded by police, into the hands of the human.

It took me longer than expected to reach the school building. I ran and aran through the streets, which had never seemed to silent and menacing before. Every corner seemed to have a shadow lurking behind it, or it was my own fear of being caught and sent back before I accomplished my mission. I couldn’t let anyone find me.

By the time I reached the building next to the school, I was out of breath and wheezing. As I chocked on air and tried to catch my breath, it finally hit me that I couldn’t just stroll in nonchalantly on the ambush. However deaf I pretended to be by not having heard the announcement or not hearing them try to stop me, they still wouldn’t let me enter the premises. Not with such a huge threat on their hands.

I contemplated what I should do. Even pretending to be a diplomat or with them wouldn’t work. Which left me with only one option. Sneak in. I went towards the back. I knew there was supposed to be a door at the back of the school, which was supposed to be so old that it would fall off its hinges when used to we were all forbidden from using it. Maybe that day would be the day that it finally fell to its demise. And its perpetrator would be me.

I peeked out from the edge. Two policemen were standing close by, chatting together. Just like me, they believed that the human wouldn’t know of the existence of the door and wouldn’t be using it. They had their weapons, but they weren’t cocked and pointed like the ones in the front. An image popped into my mind of overpowering them and knocking them out, like I had seen in movies and books, but I realised how foolish and impractical it was. And it would defy the whole point of sneaking in.

They were fairly distracted, but they would definitely see me if I made a move towards the door. It was right in front of the, and if they mistook me for something else they might shoot. Not an option. Which meant I needed a distraction.

I looked around myself. A stone would definitely not be enough. If I threw it in their direction it would momentarily distract them, but not enough to get me in the school. But wait, I could use it for something else.

There was an alley between the building I was behind and the school. The windows of the school were few, but they loomed dirty and large. I aimed at a huge circular window on the second floor. There was a loud shattering sound behind me as I ducked behind the building, hidden by a small doorway, while the two policemen rushed into the alley, calling in the ones that were in the front.

As soon as they rushed in to investigate the broken window, I dashed past the alley and towards the old school door. The handle was cold and strong against my skin. Surprising. I turned it and slipped inside. When I turned on the light the sight that awaited me left me astounded.

I had to say, you cannot expect to find a refrigerator in a school. Nor do you find a microwave, utensils, and a huge store of the best snacks in dwarf kingdom. I realised it must be where the teachers enjoyed guilty pleasures like chocolate and candy.

I dashed through the door at the side and ran through the corridors, peeking into classrooms and hoping the police outside wouldn’t spot me and shoot. I was just rushing out of a classroom when I saw a figure standing completely motionless in front of the bulletin board with his back to me. A human. I rushed forward to see him. “Raghav?”